1. Field
The present invention relates generally to encapsulant shapes for light emitting devices and specifically to a shape designed to maximize linear polarization.
2. Description of the Related Art
Polarized light sources are highly desirable for numerous applications including liquid crystal display (LCD) backlighting, illumination for polarization microscopy, reduction of headlight glare in automobiles, and for noise reduction in free-space optical communications. Generally, in these applications, a single linear polarization is desired, and the orthogonal polarization may be considered non-desirable. However, semiconductor light emitting diodes (LEDs), which are attractive for many of these applications, are generally considered to be unpolarized sources. In addition, the encapsulant shapes typically used for LEDs are rotationally symmetric, which results in equal output for the desired polarization and undesired polarization. Accordingly, an encapsulant shape used for an LED or any other light source that can increase extraction of a particular linear polarization is needed.